Upcycling hazardous metals and PET waste-derived metal–organic frameworks: a review on recent progresses and prospects

Abstract

An intense increase in non-biodegradable plastics and waste metals is an immediate threat to the world and needs to be addressed urgently. There are several strategies deployed to control, eliminate, and recycle these non-degradable solid wastes. Among them, the finest way in terms of sustainability and environmental safety is recycling these wastes into value-added products and applying the products to resolve other environmental problems such as water pollution, energy crisis, and greenhouse gas emission. Among the many value-added products that can be obtained from wastes, metal–organic frameworks (MOF) are of particular interest to researchers working on photocatalysis, sensing, gas separation, and degradation. This review deals with the synthesis of MOFs using solid wastes containing metals and organic linkers through recycling. In addition, the applications of synthesized MOFs in tackling environmental problems such as CO₂ adsorption, H₂ production, and photoreduction are discussed with critical opinions on each of these areas while highlighting the challenges, benefits, and future opportunities in this area of research.